Actually, Bush never had a chance. His administration was marked for destruction from the very beginning by democrats embittered by his refusal to roll over and play dead in the election recount controversy in 2000. As one democratic leader said in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling in Bush's favor; "We aren't forgetting a DAMN thing!"
Their hands have been on their dagger hilts ever since, just waiting for the right moment to strike.
I doubt any president in recent memory has been so despised by an opposition party than has Bush. Not even the antipathy held toward Clinton by some Republicans can approach the hatred many on the left have for Bush.
That hatred was placed on the back burner after 911....but only briefly. The Iraqi War was the perfect issue for the left. They could read all the intelligence reports on Saddam's activities, reports which Clinton himself had believed, vote for military action, and yet safely repudiate the war if it suited them.
And repudiate it they did. During the last election, cognizant of the fact that Americans lack the capacity for sustained military endeavor, they demagogued one of the least bloody of American conflicts into a "quagmire." With the willing cooperation of the press and Hollywood's elite they were able to turn the tide of public opinion.
Now that they have won, they appear at a loss as to what to do about the war. Somewhat like Robert Redford's character in the movie "The Candidate." But they have promises to the electorate to keep, so a precipitate pull-out is a definite possibility. Pelosi and crew will force it, no later than the fall of 2007, so that it can be turned into an election issue for 2008.
In that event, all the blood shed by our troops and the wealth spent by our people will have been for nothing. The blow to our presige will be substantial.....but they won't care because they will have gotten the "demon" out of the White House.
